Mischa Barton Gets in Touch with Her Tamer Side

Mischa Barton is best known for playing bad-girl Marissa from The O.C.. But it's been easy to move on from that character, she says – they were never much alike anyway.

"Even if I was a precocious teenager, it's a New York vs. L.A. thing. I never experienced the 'anything goes' chaos we sold on The O.C.," the 21-year-old actress says in an interview with January's Maxim.

"Marissa was a nut case. I didn't have much in common with her. In New York I'd want to go out at 15 or 16, but I got it out of my system."

Was it hard to let Marissa go? "Not at all," Barton says. In fact, she helped orchestrate her gruesome send-off in a car wreck. "You have no idea how much fun I had doing that [scene]. I was on the set, yelling, "More blood! More blood!" ... She needed to go out with a bang."

Barton has since moved on to movies, including parts in three upcoming films: St. Trinian's, Virgin Territory, and Closing the Ring. And while she is clearly a candidate for sultry roles, she's ambivalent about nude scenes.

"I don't mind nudity. I just don't do it that often," she says. "It depends on the film and if I trust the director and if the context is emotional or just sexual."

In any case, it seems she needn't worry about being typecast as a bad girl – she's reportedly been linked to the title role in none other than Supergirl. "It would be pretty awesome," she admits. "But everybody in Hollywood goes up for those films. I haven't been offered anything."